Ipswich Town success will have Blackburn Rovers wondering if they played Leicester City deal wrong | OneFootball

George Hirst did not have a good spell at Ewood Park

The summer of 2022 saw Blackburn Rovers under pressure to sign a new centre-forward.

Twelve months earlier, the club had sold their top scorer from the previous campaign, Adam Armstrong, and ultimately did not replace him during the 2021/22 season.

Fortunately for them, Ben Brereton began that campaign in prolific style to help fill the void that had been vacated by Armstrong.

However, when his form dipped in the second half of the campaign - only two of his 22 league goals came after the turn of the year - Blackburn's form did too, ending their hopes of a play-off place.

As a result, there was an expectation on the club to sign a new centre-forward to share that goalscoring burden with Brereton, for the 2022/23 season.

In the end, they would do that, with the signing of George Hirst, who joined on a season-long loan from Premier League side Leicester City, with the option to buy.

Ultimately though, the signing of Hirst by Blackburn simply did not work out for anybody connected with the deal.

George Hirst failed to fire at Ewood Park

When he completed his move to Rovers in August 2022, Hirst had previously had an unsuccessful loan spell in the Championship with Rotherham United.

He had failed to score in 31 league games for the Millers during the 2020/21 season, as they were relegated to League One.

But with the striker then enjoying a more successful spell in the third-tier with Portsmouth in 2021/22 - scoring 13 times in 40 games - there was hope he was ready for the step-up.

That, though, proved not to be the case with Blackburn, where Hirst badly struggled to make any sort of impact.

In the first-half of the season, he made just 11 appearances in all competitions for the club, only three of which were as a starter.

In truth, the centre-forward never really looked like justifying a regular place in the starting XI, rarely troubling an opposition goalkeeper.

Sadly, his most notable contribution would come in a 1-0 defeat at Cardiff City, when he missed a penalty in second-half stoppage time to end any hope of Blackburn snatching a point in that game.

Rovers would go on to finish the campaign seventh in the table, level on points with sixth-placed Sunderland, but missing out on a place in the play-offs on goal difference.

As a result, that penalty miss by Hirst in the Welsh capital was particularly costly, although by then, he was long gone from Ewood Park.

Instead, those of a Blackburn persuasion will likely have been left to wonder what might have been, given what has happened since then for the striker.

George Hirst thrived after swapping Blackburn for Ipswich

In January 2023, with his loan move at Ewood Park not working out and Hirst struggling for game time, the striker was recalled from his stint at Rovers by Leicester.

Immediately after that, he was sent back out on loan, this time returning to League One, where he linked up with Ipswich Town.

That would prove to be a successful move for Hirst, who, in his first few months at Portman Road, scored seven goals in 23 appearances to help the Tractor Boys win promotion to the Championship.

Following that, Ipswich moved to make the striker's move to the club permanent in the summer of 2023, for a fee reported to be worth around £1.5million.

Given his previous struggles at Ewood Park in the Championship, many Blackburn fans were understandably skeptical about Ipswich moving to sign the striker permanently.

But despite an injury-hit campaign, Hirst finally managed to realise his potential in the second-tier last season.

In 26 league appearances, the striker managed to score seven goals, showing some clinical finishing that he had previously been lacking in the Championship.

Through that, the 25-year-old played his part in helping Ipswich make back-to-back promotions, and seal a long-awaited return to the Premier League.

To rub salt into the wounds for Blackburn, one of those goals scored by Hirst would come in a 4-3 win over Rovers, as he did against them, which he had never been able to do for them.

With that in mind, those at Ewood Park may have been left with questions about whether they used Hirst in the right way, while he was in Lancashire.

His performances with Ipswich last season showed that, contrary to the evidence provided during his time in the north west, Hirst could indeed make an impact in the Championship.

Had he been able to score the goals he did for the Tractor Boys when he was at Ewood Park, it is likely he would have helped the club pick up some more positive results.

Given how close they were to the top six anyway, that contribution could have helped lift Rovers into the Championship play-offs, where anything could well have happened.